December 21, 2006	Thursday	Ziqa'ad 29, 1427

BEIJING, Dec 20: Kazakhstan has reached a series of deals with neighbour China to smooth cross-border energy trade and cooperation, as its President Nursultan Nazarbayev kicked off a state visit to Beijing this week.

Strategic and economic cooperation deals signed on Wednesday by Nazarbayev and Chinese President Hu Jintao included exploitation of Kazakhstan's rich oil and gas resources.

As diplomats met in Beijing to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear programme and as the United States eases restrictions on nuclear trade with India, Nazarbayev and Hu discussed strengthening mechanisms for nuclear non-proliferation, according to China's state news agency, Xinhua.

Trade between Kazakhstan and China has grown following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bilateral trade, estimated at $8 billion in 2006, is expected to reach $10 billion in 2010 and $15 billion in 2015.

But Kazakhstan remains wary of becoming merely a raw materials supplier to its giant neighbour. It recently blocked Chinese investment firm CITIC's $1.9bn takeover of Nations Energy, a Canadian firm with assets in Kazakhstan.

“Kazakhstan is adopting a distinctively diversifying strategy, trying to strike a balance between Russia and China,” said a senior researcher at a Chinese government think-tank.

All three countries are part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional security grouping used by member states to fight what they see as a growing terrorist threat in the region. —Reuters